Hot
by Zsylynn Quinn 1358
Summary: August visits Jo during one of the hottest days or the year...they do...things and Jade comes home...Guess what happens then.


Joanne West was considered odd, strange, off her rocker (she wore pajamas to school during a thunderstorm, resulting in a nasty cold) but even she could not deny the heat outside. As such, she remained holed up in the living room clad in only her underwear-a sports bra and Family Guy boxers-flipping through the channel and sipping apple juice. What? Apple juice is delicious! Anyhow, Jo had just guzzled down her third glass when…a miracle, a beacon of hop from the cloud on a stormy night! Too dramatic? Sorry…it's Jo for the love of chocolate. The cause of her excitement was the television guide; her favorite show 1000 ways to Die was set to come on in exactly one hour. And it was a marathon! Oh, the possibilities…surprised about her love of blood and gore? You shouldn't be she _is _Jade's sister after all. Jo scurried to the kitchen; she'd need more apple juice if she was planning to sit through multiple episodes of such brilliance. Suddenly…a ringing-the doorbell. Annoyed and impatient, Jo made her way to the door.

Luckily, her boxers were too big and she could easily pass them off as regular shorts. She swung the door open, revealing…oh, crap, crap, crap! "Joker, are you in your…underwear?" August did not consider himself in any form a pervert, but Jo did have a nice pair of…legs. He allowed his eyes to "discreetly" roam the length of Jo's body before coming to his senses and covering his eyes. Jo shrieked, he flinched, and the door slammed directly in his face. Jo sprinted-toddled- up the stairs to her room and threw on the first thing she saw-a t-shirt and an _actual_ pair of shorts, long enough to cover the majority of her legs yet light enough to be uncomfortable in the heat. She slowly, reluctantly made her way downstairs.

"Hey…Joker, how a-are you?"

"You are never to speak of what just occurred! Am I clear, August Ernest Jones?" Jo said, her tone curt (creepy).

"Yes, maim!" August said quickly. "So…I know you hate the heat and I thought I'd, I don't know, come over and ease your suffering…? I brought a bunch of sodas, some DVDs, yogurt, water balloons-"

"Water balloons?"

"Water fight…you know you want to. Anyway, I have apple juice; an entire, never before opened JUG! With," he produced a brand new drinking cup decorated with Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, "your own personal drinking mug! Am I awesome or am I awesome?"August asked. Jo was impressed; August had one superb memory…half the time Jess couldn't remember the _name _of her [Jo's] favorite cartoon. She ushered August inside; Jade wouldn't mind…much. Okay… I'm going to stop here and let you think about that. OF COURSE Jade was going to mind. But Jo was not concerned about that; not with August on the couch and looking so…sweet, so inviting. They sat on the couch, enjoying drink after drink of apple juice.

It was dark before they realized it.

"I…did not know that was possible…" August shivered at the sight on the television- a grown man voluntarily having his…area beaten with a _mallet. _

"Eh...relax, Red; it's just a show."

"Based on real events!"

Jo would never understand why men were so sensitive about their…downstairs area.

August looked away as once again, the man on the TV allowed himself to me beaten with the mallet. Eventually the TV was abandoned in favor of Hide and Seek. You read correctly, Hide and Seek. It's Jo, people, what else would they have done? Jo crept along the staircase quietly, stealthily checking this was and that before moving on to check the bathroom. Empty. She checked the guestroom. Negative. Her room. Nope. (Thank God; Jade would have chopped off his hair if she found out he'd been there.) Jess' room. Nein. Jo moved along to Tori and Jade's room. He wasn't there. That left only one possible place. Jo smirked. She had him now. She crept along carefully, taking care to step lightly. So far so good, so far so good, so far so go-

"Gotcha!"

"AHHHHH!"

August laughed as Jo tried to restart her surely stopped heart. She growled. "You jerk I nearly died; how could you?!"

"Oh, you see first I crept behind you when you left the bathroom and from there I-"

"I know HOW you did it…meanie, why would you do it?" Jo asked.

"'Cause it was funny."

"IT WAS NOT!"

"You weren't the one watching." August said, once again dissolving into loud, raucous laughter.

"Oh, I think I hear Jade!"

"Crap, hide me!"

It was Jo's turn to break into hoarse laughter.

"Oh, you…humph!" August pouted.

Needless to say the game ended after that incident. The two made their way back to the couch and once again tuned in to stupid people doing stupid things. Honestly…that's what some shows should be called. I mean, seriously…catching your tongue in a mousetrap, riding a shopping cart off a roof; eating a fish whole; letting yourself get run over by a car. Getting carried away, but, you get the point. It was just after tem pm when August had the brilliant-not really-idea to cook something to eat…Which in reality means burn the kitchen into an unrecognizable mess. And now here they were, in the middle of the living room, soaking wet from an impromptu sprinkler shower.

"You…idiot…"

"Sorry." August said his voice barely above a whisper. "What now?"

Jo wanted to be angry; she wanted to scream at August, to really lay into him, but somehow she couldn't force herself to feel anything other than affection and adoration (love?) for the boy. She smiled, taking his face in her hands. Jo ran her fingers over his cheeks, reveling in the soft, silky feel of his skin. Their lips touched and everything seemed to melt away except the feel of strong arms and minty fresh breath ghosting across her pale cheeks. There was a strange pleasure in kissing August that had not been present during their first kiss. Time had passed, their relationship had strengthened and with it her feelings for him, creating a never ending satisfaction at just _touching_ the boy. Kissing August was, in a way, her own personal heaven. They moved from the kitchen into the living room, to the couch. She walked August backward until his legs made contact with the arm of the couch and he toppled over.

Their lips never part from each other as slowly, delicately the kiss deepened. August's arms wrapped around her, cocooning her in a safe embrace. _Good God…_she felt his tongue poking at her lips, seeking refuge in her mouth; her lips parted instantly, granting him access. She felt hot, her skin burning at the feel of August's chiseled, muscular…rippled…getting off track! The sprinkler water was doing nothing to cool the heat brewing inside of her. She was soaking wet…in more ways than one.

"Mmmm…wait, wait, Joker, stop…"

"Huh?"

"Look…I just think this is going a little too fast. I mean, we've been together what, six months? I'm just not ready to…you know, and I don't want to make you think that's all I want from you." August eased himself into a sitting position. "We should stop."

"I…yeah, we should." Her lungs were burning, her head light with excitement. This was going way further than she was okay with. Jo moved to get off of August, but lost her footing and toppled over and fell to the floor.

"Hahahahahahaha…"

"Shut up!" Jo yelled.

"Ah…lighten up! It was funny, even you have to admit that." August help Jo to her feet, pulled her close, and planted a nice, long kiss to her lips. "My little Joker…"

"Jo, I'm back!" Jade's voice cut through any form of amusement; the two pulled away from each other at breakneck speed, ending up on opposite ends of the couch. One look at them and Jade knew what had taken place in her absence. Now, where were those goddamn scissors? She eyed August with an expression than would've reduced most men to salt. "What are you doing in here…Jones?"

August fumbled, his words tripping over themselves, his voice shaking, unsteady. "Ummm…we, uh, I came over to spend time with Jo and ended up staying over really late and then we tried to make ourselves a little something to eat and maaay have…started a fire…" at Jade's astonished look, he continued. "But the sprinklers put it out! No need to worry!"

"Go home…right now." Jade growled.

"Yes. Maim…I'll see you at school, Joker. Bye Jade." he said. Jo saw August to the door, waved goodbye, shared with him a brief kiss; perhaps their last for an undetermined amount of time and counted to ten; Jade needed time to cool off. The sprinklers shut off, the house went deadly silent…Jade was in one of her moods. Jo walked back into the living room; Jade motioned for her to sit on the couch. Jo took deep, even breaths; in, out, in. out, in, out…she was nervous. Jade remained silent for seconds, minutes, Jo didn't know. Then, in a voice as low and as raspy as ever, Jade said, in no uncertain terms, the six words Jo had been dreading. If you know Jade, you can almost guess what they are. No? Well then, back to the story. Psst…don't worry…you'll get it next time…maybe.

"You…are in so much TROUBLE!"

Crap...

"Look…Jade, I know you're angry, hell, I'd be angry too, but it wasn't what you think!"

"Oh…and what exactly do I 'think' happened? Come on…enlighten me." Jade said, already standing to make her coffee.

"I…he came over to keep me company, like he said. He brought me water balloons and DVDs and my own personal drinking cup and apple juice and-"

"Can we skip forward to a little before I walked in on the two of you soaking wet and making out in the living room?!" Jade popped the top off of the coffee can, spooned some into her mug, and added two sugars. The coffee pot sat atop the stove (the heat had been turned low so Jade could properly hear Jo's story.) Jo ran through the evenings events, omitting the details of why exactly she and August had been doing before Jo had fallen on the floor. Hmmm…now, you should have a good idea of the West family by now…Jo especially! Tell me, do you really think Jo is going to get away with her not exactly lie but not exactly whole truth? Think hard. I'll wait… you done? OF COURSE SHE ISN'T!

Jade eyed Jo carefully: messy hair, crooked clothes…oddly peaceful, love struck expression mixed in with her cautious, somewhat frightened countenance. It had all the makings of a teenage love story…The Young and the Stupid. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"It's the truth!"

"Really, so you were sitting on the couch and just suddenly fell over? Really, did the big bad wolf huff and puff and blow you down?" Jade asked.

"…"

"Well?"

"…No…"

"Come on, JoJo…this is me; you can tell me what happened. I may be old, but I'm not that old." Jade said her voice remarkably softer, gentler.

"Thirty isn't old."

"Good answer…but down think buttering me up will help you. Now, what really happened?" Jade asked.

"Well, after the sprinklers put out the fire, I was so mad at August. We just stood in the kitchen, watching the smoke. I called him an idiot. Jade, that's not funny! He apologized and I couldn't be made at him; he was just…so…urgh! God…why's he got to be so cute? We…kissed and I led him back to the living room. No…he didn't force anything on anyone, Jade! Stop trying to make him the bad guy! I just…I walked him backward until he fell over the arm of the couch and we…kept kissing. And…I admit, we may have been getting a little carried away. Jade! Jade put down the scissors right now! Good…now _listen!_ He wanted to stop before we did anything we may regret. Yes, Jade, HE wanted to stop. He sat up, I moved to get off of him…I fell. He laughed, I was made. And then he help me up, we kissed one last time…then you walked in."

"Hmph…maybe he's not so bad…uh-huh! Don't go getting hopeful; you're still in trouble!" Jade said.

"Why? I told the truth!"

"You also broke one of the few rules in this house: no boys inside without my permission or approval! You know how I hate you and Jess to be alone with boys, especially when I'm not close enough to intervene!"

"Sorry…"

"Yeah…it's okay. But don't think about doing it again. Okay?"

"Okay."

The coffee pot whistled.

"Go on upstairs; I'm letting you off easy this time. Goodnight."

Jo smiled. "Thanks, Jadey! Night!"

Jade smiled, whispering to herself as she poured her coffee. "Just be happy it wasn't Tori's dad that caught you; I'm almost positive he still has that bullet with my name etched into somewhere, ready and waiting."

You don't want to know.


End file.
